The Rift Opened
by footshooter
Summary: The rift began as a speck, and splintered and cracked until it was big enough to break his chains and allow him to fall through. Series 4 & 7 spoilers. Swearing.
1. Chapter 1

The rift opened, and the Master could feel the energy before he saw it. A white light started to illuminate the wall behind his body, and he could feel the itchy heat from it as it spread upwards as time splintered and cracked. The rift got wider and wider until his whole body was illuminated in white and the chains around his wrists loosened.

He allowed himself to fall backwards, through the hole in time, through nothing and everything until the shouting of the Time War ceased to exist in his head and he hit solid, metallic ground. Only one _true_ Timelord consciousness pulse existed in his brain now, although echoes of the Doctor's idiotic experiments were there, rattling around like rodents. It was empty, and the emptiness was together blissful and horrific.

He sat up slowly; he was in the TARDIS. Obviously not his first choice of destination, but it would do. Cuffs still bit into his wrists, chafing the skin. The TARDIS was still keening, recovering, and he wondered how the hell the Doctor could inflict so much damage that she would forget her pilots safeguards and initiate the sequence he'd managed to implant back when he turned her into a paradox machine to drag him back from death when even the Doctor hadn't noticed.

Not that he'd needed them, of course, he'd found his own way back. But she'd pulled him through this time and she was a warm presence in his head, wounded and crying out for someone to heal her. He patted her wall, gently, and she calmed, soothed as he let her inside his head. The timeline hadn't happened, and so the Doctor, useless as ever, hadn't noticed this tiny bit of his TARDIS that needed reassurance. Without the drums, the Master felt nothing. No anger, no pain, no sympathy, and so he patted her again and tried to stand.

His legs had forgotten how to work with lack of use and he fell back down, sinking to the floor in a heap. The TARDIS consoled him, her energy as soothing to him as his was to her.

He was attacked suddenly by a sense of nothing which scared him half to death. He had no plan, no wishes, no hate, no emotion. He had no one in his head guiding his actions and he felt lost.

"What do I do?" he muttered to the hallway, wondering if he was truly mad as he did so, and the drums were just a cover.

The TARDIS tried to calm him again, and he let her.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, I stood up and was walking down this corridor and it was all… red and weird. Full of creepy noises. I'm sure it's just trying to scare me off."

The Doctor shook his head, pressing one hand against it as he did so and twirling a dial.

"It was just a dream, Clara. Forget about it."  
"It felt real."  
"Well it wasn't. Red is a bad décor colour. Red usually means something has gone wrong."  
"But it felt… Wounded."  
"Okay, so maybe she was showing you her past. She went red once before. Someone turned her into a paradox machine so he could use future humans in balls to kill past humans and not wipe out the universe in a flash of what-on-earth-you-can't-do-that."  
"A paradox machine?"  
"Yes, a paradox machine."  
"But it looked like the TARDIS now."  
"It was a _dream_, Clara."

Clara sighed, shoulders dropping, and folded her arms.

"Are you alright?"

The Doctor looked at her through squinted eyes.

"Yes, of course. Why?"  
"I don't know. You look in pain."  
"My head's just being a little funny. It happens."  
"Two days in one?"  
"Something like that."  
"Are you sure I can't check out the corridor? Just, it seemed to mean something. It was very strange."  
"Would it make you feel better?"  
"Yes."  
"Well, then yes. If we can find it, we can prove to you it's nothing and get back to doing stuff."  
"Like sleeping? I'm sure your headache is just a lack of sleep."  
"Time Lord's don't need sleep."  
"So you say. I can't check with anyone."

What sounded like another heartbeat occurred suddenly in the Doctor's ears, but was quickly glossed over by a wave of calm. The Doctor wondered if he was getting sick.

"Okay, where was this corridor."

Clara smiled.

"This way."


	3. Chapter 3

The Master could feel the wave of protectiveness the TARDIS was casting out over him and he was beginning to wonder why. Surely systems should be on red alert, telling the Doctor that he was here and that she was injured. Turns out she was concealing both from him.

A wave of nausea passed over him, and he resisted the urge to gag. The TARDIS flashed an image into his head of a girl, smiling a sickly sweet smile and fluttering her eyelashes at the Doctor.

"Clara, yes?" he asked, and the TARDIS confirmed. "And you don't like her?"

The TARDIS shuddered in the negativity, and the Master frowned.

"What, are you suddenly getting jealous of his girlfriends?"

The TARDIS's anger caused her to forget her protection for a split second, but she brought it back in a heavy wave apologetically. She showed him Clara's deaths and the Doctor's heartbreak.

"They all leave him. You can't protect him from that."

The TARDIS formed the mental equivalent of a frown, and the Master relented.

"Alright, alright. Yes, there's something weird about her. Yes, I feel it too. But you _know_ the Doctor. He's an idiot. He won't work out whatever it is she's hiding."

The TARDIS's message was clear: so help him.

* * *

**a/n: _sorry about the chapters being so bloody short. I'll try and pick them up once I've gotten into the story. I'd say it was for impact or something, but it's just because if I made it any longer they'd be just going around in circles. _**


	4. Chapter 4

The headache was getting stronger as the Doctor got closer to where the TARDIS was concealing the Master. It took more effort for her to hide him the closer he got, just as it took more effort for the TARDIS to hide the Doctor's approach from the Master. Not that he could go anywhere, he was scarily thin, exhausted, dehydrated and could barely stand on his legs never mind run. And at the end of the day, where could he run to.

The Master shuddered and drew himself into a ball.

"So, it should be down here!"  
"Clara, we've been wandering forever."  
"It's not my fault it all looks like same!"  
"You're upsetting her!"  
"She's upsetting me!"

They turned the corner, and the Master staggered to his feet.

"Doctor, don't you know by now never to introduce the ship you've spent years fondling and the latest human _skirt_ you've been chasing."

The Doctor stopped dead, holding out his hand to stop Clara.

"Doctor, who the hell is that?"  
"How did you get on this ship?"

The Master appeared from behind a pillar, dirty, dishevelled, hair and beard overgrown.

"The TARDIS. I built a safeguard. You missed it. She brought me back. She's crying out for you to fix her."  
"But there's nothing-"  
"Look, if I can feel her, so can you."

The TARDIS bristled and the Doctor frowned.

"Is she… Is she keeping secrets from me?"  
"Seems like it."  
"Well she's not the only one keeping secrets."

The Master's attention flicked to Clara, looking her up and down with a sneer.

"So which version is this? 1, 2, 3, 3a, are we up to 4?"  
"How do you-"  
"TARDIS."  
"Why is she sharing that with you?"  
"She seems to think I will pay more attention to her cries than you will."  
"You're not going near her circuits."  
"To be honest, I could do with a lie down. She has a minor cooling issue, nothing too bad at the minute, but if you lowered the shields…"

He stared pointedly at Clara, and the Doctor frowned.

"I would fix it, if I were you."

The Master limped away behind them, leaving the Doctor looking stunned and Clara bursting with questions.

"Doctor, what-"

The Doctor looked at her.

"Stay here. Don't go near him."

The Doctor ran after the Master.


	5. Chapter 5

He wasn't sure how the Master had managed to get quite so far away, but he couldn't exactly hide now that the Doctor knew he was there. He used the heartbeats in his head to guide him to where the Master was striding down the corridors and even though the Master knew he was there, he didn't slow down and he didn't stop.

At least not until the Doctor had caught up with him and used his foot to trip him up.

The Master stumbled and the Doctor was left grinning like a total and complete idiot when he was confronted with a pent-up ball of fury being directed completely and utterly towards him. He raised his hand, the international sign of peace, and his speech centre automatically switched to Gallifreyan. It felt weird to use the language again, thinking it was dead once more. It felt rusty.

"What are you _doing_?" the Master growled, and the Doctor shrugged.  
"You were the one rushing off in a tantrum."  
"I was _not_."  
"You were, and you know it. You've gotten onto my ship, into my ship and insulted my companion and you've only been here ten minutes. I take it the drums being gone hasn't gotten rid of the huffs."

The Master growled and took a step closer, but the Doctor didn't budge.

"Oh, come. What are you going to do to me?"

The Master rolled his eyes.

"I want a bath."  
"Okay."  
"What?"  
"I said okay."  
"Where's the but?"  
"Well, I want to know what's going on, of course, but I'm sure it can wait."

The Master frowned, but then it hit him.

"Oh, of course. So you can tell Clara v 3a that I'm not to be trusted and she shouldn't so much as speak to me. How very boring."  
"How do you know so much about her?"  
"How do you know so little about her?"  
"I can only assume what is going to happen hasn't happened yet."  
"And the splintering of the TARDIS?"  
"Yes, well, that was careless of me."  
"Yes."

There was a pause.

"Where's the leak?"

The Master sighed and muttered something under his breath about the Doctor's incompetence before striding off to the engine rooms, the Doctor almost having to jog to keep up with him. Clara caught them halfway and also jogged to keep up.

"What's going on?" she whispered, and the Doctor shook his head.  
"I'm not too sure yet," he whispered back.  
"Is he a Timelord?"

The Doctor shot a confused glance at her.

"Yes. How do you know that?"  
"You were talking a different language. The TARDIS didn't translate it."

The Master stopped in his tracks and the Doctor and Clara almost ran into the back of him.

"I can _hear _you, you know. Either don't stage whisper and speak loudly or don't bother."

He started to stride off again, and the Doctor and Clara exchanged chastised looks before following him.

"When did you lower the shields anyway?"

The Master stopped again, turning to look at the Doctor.

"Version 3a can understand Gallifreyan. Very interesting, don't you think?"

Clara glanced from one to the other, confused.

"Sorry, what?"


End file.
